Jeffrey Wells The days when an actor like John Lithgow could be shamed into not playing a role over Stalinist trans outrage rhetoric are over. A couple of years ago trans terror was a force to be feared. Not so much these days. In my view J.K. Rowling is a woman of backbone.
Gulf of Emptiness? Gulf of Nowhere? Gulf of Infinite Nothingness?
I’ve always liked the sound of the Gulf of Mexico. Everyone should revert to that when Trump leaves office on 1.20.29. He won’t die in office — of that I’m fairly certain. German genes.
Gulf of Jose Jimenez?
…if I skip this one? Can’t hurt, right? Sorry but I’m 95% sure that I’m not stupid enough to really enjoy it. I know, I know…just sit through the damn thing and then trash it, if you’re so inclined.
This is a life-size mannequin, sitting in the lobby of the AMC Grove, where last night I caught a 7:15 pm screening of Becoming Led Zeppelin.**
** I first saw the Ledzep doc in Telluride in ‘22 (or was it ‘21?). It was 16 minutes longer then. It’s nothing close to a probing documentary — it’s more like a fan-created infomercial.
7:35 pm: HE will drive back to Ojai this evening following the Timothee Chalamet interview/tribute (8 pm to 10 pm). I’ve enjoyed a warm, nourishing, profoundly soothing six days in Santa Barbara — thanks to HE’s own Roger Durling for the gracious and generous hospitality!
11:20 pm update — HE to guest moderator Josh Brolin: “The Brolin-Chalamet show was the greatest SBIFF interview hang EVER…hilarious, honest, surreal, liberating.
“James Mangold called it ‘the Phil Donahue show’. I for one laughed and whooped my ass off. You were brilliant!! Your repeated jokes about Timothee’s green floral-print shirt were perfect, and when he left to take a leak…”that is art”…I almost fell out of my seat.
“In a way Mangold kind of brought everyone down with his par-for-the-course praisings. He was fine and eloquent, but you and Timmy were on a whole ‘nother level. You were on mescaline!”
Brolin replies to HE: “Jeffrey! So glad you had a nice time. I knew Timmy and I would [enjoy some] nice, real (if not quite mescaline-infused) banter. I was honored to do it.”
HE back to Brolin: “Not to mention Timmy lamenting the ticking of the clock at age 29 and the career pressure that comes with his being on the cusp of old guy-hood. Which will kick in, you remarked, when Timmy turns 31.’.
”This prompted you, of course, to joshingly imply resentment at this while announcing that your 57th birthday is imminent (actually today!…happy birthday!). Followed by Timmy and the entire Arlington audience singing the proverbial song…a truly joyful moment.
”The audience and I didn’t have a ‘nice’ time — we had a euphoric time. Last night will live in the SBIFF annals.
”I absolutely love that you sent your reply to my initial euphoric email at 4:10 am.
”Forgive me for not having not read ‘From Under The Truck’ yet. I meant to buy it after watching you talk about it on Joe Rogan.”
Bunk, I tell you! Don’t fall for it!
Scowly-faced Kris Tapley is basically asking “if Anora is locked in for Best Picture, why on earth would Mikey Madison not win the Best Actress Oscar?”
HE answer: I’ve said this two or three times but it has to be drilled in. Demi Moore is apparently going to win because SAG and AMPAS members have all accepted the narrative voiced by Moore after winning a Best Comedy/Musical Actress Golden Globe award five weeks ago (i.e., January 5th).
“Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a ‘popcorn actress,’ and at that time, I [took] that to mean that…I could do movies that were successful and made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged, and I bought in and I believed that,” Moore said. “That corroded me over time, to the point where I thought a few years ago that maybe this was it, maybe I was complete, maybe I had done what I was supposed to do.
“And [just] as I was at kind of a low point, I had this magical, bold, courageous, out-of-the-box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk called The Substance. And the universe told me that ‘you’re not done.’”
For the sixth or seventh time, Moore’s narrative is dishonest. She was not forced into a popcorn box by mean old Hollywood executives. She walked right into that box of her own volition, and she totally reaped the spoils (mainstream fame, huge paychecks, flush lifestyle) until she aged out. And then she pivoted into a body horror flick just like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford pivoted into hag horror in the early ’60s.
In the ’80s and ’90s Moore went for big, attention-getting, high-paying roles in mainstream films, and she became rich and famous from this. She chose this path while the choosing was good.
I’ve never read or heard that Moore tried to prove her arthouse mettle by appearing in edgy Sundance films, and she never tried to be in a critically-approved, Cannes-worthy, outside-the-box feminist statement film, and certainly not in a body-horror film.
She only took the lead in The Substance when she calculated that she’d aged out (duhhh) and a role like this was her only likely shot at revitalizing her career.
Everyone knows by now that The Brutalist and Brady Corbet are finished as far as the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars are concerned…nice try, you’re not winning, maybe next time.
What this portends, unfortunately, is that the remaining Brutalist sympathizers will be voting to hand the Best Actor Oscar to Adrien Brody as a make-up.
This is a really misguided idea, of course, as the lead performances by Conclave’s Ralph Fiennes and A Complete Unknown Timothee Chalamet are far more transporting than Brody’s…please, c’mon.
In my book, Brody’s boo-hoo weeping scene at the bus station with Alessandro Nivola…this scene alone requires instant Oscar disqualification.
SBIFF Virtuoso headliners, in alphabetical order: A Complete Unknown‘s Monica Barbaro, Emilia Perez‘s Selena Gomez, Wicked‘s Ariana Grande, Sing Sing‘s Clarence Maclin, Anora‘s Mikey Madison, September 5‘s John Magaro, I’m Still Here‘s Fernanda Torres, The Apprentice‘s Sebastian Stan.
I hereby apologize for expressing disappointment that A Real Pain‘s Kieran Culkin and Babygirl’s Harris Dickinson didn’t show up. I really wanted to sample Dickinson’s vibe, but another time. What was important was that SBIFF honcho Roger Durling managed to lasso eight seriously live-wire movie people — seven of them youngish and popping like well-oiled corn kernels over a flame, and the eighth (the attractively-seasoned Torres) was arguably the most ebullient of the lot.
The annual Virtuosos gathering is an elegant, time-honored showcase for this and that brand of talent and charisma, but it’s also a competitive event because when it’s over people always say “who won?” Well, nobody really knocked it out of the park but if you ask me the two standouts were Stan and Gomez.
Stan is currently shooting Fjord, a Romanian-language film for director Cristian Mungiu, and at one point moderator Dave Karger asked him to speak a little Romanian, and Stan passed with flying colors. Plus he amusingly dissected the coarseness and fraudulence of the Trump persona.
Gomez made a vivid impression because of her superior leg sculpture. Before last night I had never really thought of the Emilia Perez costar as a gal with great gams — now I can’t think of anything else.
Sidenote: Ariana Grande‘s Wicked performance as Glinda has landed a Best Supporting Actress nomination. In the film Grande’s wind-up-doll, pretty-in-pink mannerisms are offered as a satire of self-obsessed femininity, but last night….how do I say this tactfully?…she seemed to be playing Glinda as herself. (Or vice versa.) Grande is certainly not a “let it all hang out” fuck-all type. Her way of speaking, her body language…it’s all been carefully rehearsed.
Plus when Karger asked her to recommend a relatively unsung film for people to seek out and watch, Grande either (a) couldn’t come up with one or (b) chose not to for…I don’t know, possibly out of fear of sounding divisive or something. She said that people should watch “everything…all the movies” or words to that effect. She basically chickened out.
Before Sing Sing’s Clarence Maclin came along, was Flea the only famous guy to flaunt a top–row missing tooth? As a style statement, I mean.
We all understand that bad-teeth flaunting or calling attention to dental imperfections (a.k.a “grillz”) is a no-excuses, no-apologies Black cultural thing.
I guess what I’m really asking is if Flea is the only famous white guy to do the edgy gap-tooth. Would Adrien Brody be a leading Best Actor nominee if he had followed suit? How about Edward Norton?
It’s nearly 8 pm on Thursday, 2.6, and the Ojai-Santa Barbara area has been radiating awful, rain-soaked misery all day long. Dampness at the break of noon, eclipses of both the sun and moon.
As a result I’m in a mostly foul, wrapped-scarf, huddled mood right now, but at least I have a third-row seat at the grand Arlington Theatre, and the big hoo-hah Ralph Fiennes tribute show is about to begin.
I did an interview with Fiennes for the N.Y. Daily News back in early ‘94 (or was it late ‘93?). The focus was his Oscar-touted performance as concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (‘93).
The title of my article was “The Reich Stuff”. Other journos have used the same expression, but my use of it was the first, I think.
Sitting on-stage with Scott Feinberg, Fiennes looks a tiny bit schlumpy…charmingly, I mean…legs crossed at the ankles, thick-soled comfort shoes, projecting a certain modesty but explicityly not trying to sell the theatrical conceit that he’s chatting with Feinberg in the least. Nearly every moment Fiennes, leaning forward intently, is addressing the Arlington audience.
Best Fiennes quote of the night (as of 9:07 pm): “I liked Julia Roberts [when we met around the time of Shakespeare in Love] — I don’t think she liked me.”
Would that even be, like, allowed? You can’t eat Mahershala Ali — it’s just not done.
Friendo: “Wow, that Jurassic Park Rebirth trailer looks…kinda bad. They even repeat the scene from the first one when Sam Neill yells ‘Ian, freeze!’ at Jeff Goldblum when the big dino is behind him.
“I’m guessing Ali gets consumed. I know, I know, but he seems to have the Janet Leigh-in-Psycho role. Prominent but not too prominent. If he gets eaten the audience will go ‘Oh my God, the dino just ate an Oscar winner! Is anyone safe?!’ Plus ScarJo looks a bit ragged.”
…due to a re-watch of The Brutalist. If I were to run into Brady Corbet on the streets of Ojai I wouldn’t take a poke at him — I’m a civilized human being — but I would probably give him a dirty look. Okay, I wouldn’t do that either — I would smile and go “hey!” and schmooze and whatnot. But I would hate myself for doing so.
Even before my movie journalism career launched in the late ‘70s, I always considered it vital to see films that had seriously impacted the culture, even if the general consensus was that they were shit.
So it means something, I think, that I never had the slightest interest in catching Disney’s Freaky Friday, a popular but allegedly pedestrian mother-daughter body-swap comedy, when it opened 22 years ago.
I regard women-friendly films of this type as cotton candy at best, and the costarring of Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis seemed, in this context, like a formidable warning if not a flat-out repellent.
I therefore regard a 2.3.25 report that Cpt. Rebecca Lobach, who was killed on 1.29.25 when the Blackhawk helicopter she was co-piloting collided with an American Eagle commercial jet and caused the deaths of 64 passengers…reading that Lobach was a fanatical, repeat-watch fan of Freaky Friday is vaguely disappointing at the least, and kind of alienating, truth be told.
The 28-year-old Lobach was six or seven when Freaky Friday opened on 8.4.03. But her family kept re-watching it over and over and over, she later wrote. There’s no accounting for taste in films, needless to add.
